The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-04-20
making coal, petroleum and gas. back
to the old Silurian days. Take
IN armfrl of nina wood and

making coal, petroleum and gas. back
to the old Silurian days. Take
an armful of pine wood and
slowly burn it in covered oven, the result will
be an escape of gases and deposition of tar.
The rafting of wood deep under ground is moth
ing but slow, smothered burning. The oily and
-esnous matters Of the vegetable body are de-
posted in the earth. Amber is mineral resin,
or gum, as everybody knows. When the pine
wood spoke of is burned in the closed oven the
tar is separated from the fbrous substance. and
the latter is left in the form of charcoal SO.
when the wood, by almost infinitely slow
earth it parts with more or less OF its oil and
resin and takes the form of COAL
How do you know thlsa
SIN the first place, we see the process going on
have long been buried. Ignite coal retains the
fbrous formation of the wood and is, found in
the later geological deposits. The roef shales
and the bottom clays of our coal beds are full Of
plant remains. and all through the Paleozoc
rocks as far down as into the Lower Slurian de-
posits the forms of vegetable and animal life are
present in fossil state. The oils and gases of
these plants and animals have escaped, but they
are not annihilated; they still exist Most of
Goals are highly btuminous-that is they
still retain much of the oils and gases of the
plant matter out of which they have been formed.
But below the coal measures in the older rocks
are many massive beds of shale that are known
to contain enormous amounts of bituminous
shaies of the Lower Silurian are of this class,
ana as have said, they overly the Trenton
limestone of Indiana. So we may proceed to
particular facts. The particular facts, stated
without recourse to technical terms, are: First,
hydrccarbon gas is always found in con-
necion with carbonaceous deposits; Sec
ond. natural gas is a hydro-carbon gas;
thlrd, natural gas, in the Paieozolc
rocks is always found along with petroleum;
fourth. in Pennsylvania, New York and Indiana
the gas fields are oil fields and the oil fields are
gas fields. Now. in coal mines gas is constantly
met with and often it is ignited and explodes
with disastrous effect Wherever logs, or
leaves, or other plant matter is buried gas is
formed, and will burn when freed Thus, from
a log buried in swamp mud to older vegetable
matter in the drift is one step; from the gas
making plant remains in the drift to the ligntes
of the tertiary deposits is another
step, and another is from the tertiary lgnites
to the true Goals Of the older rocks; from these
Goals to the bituminous llmestones and shales is
the final STEP Now. coming to the Trenton
lmestones of Indiana we find il OVERLAND with a
heavy deposit of clay shales very carbonaceous
This shale is compact to degree that renders it
lmpervlous to gas: but the limestone is exceed
ingly porous in places. 1t follows that if these
shales ever contained the oily matter of plants
great pressure, the oil would be ex-
pressed and would flow down into
the porus subjacent Trenton limestone This
oily matter would be far from pure and would
be extremely hydrous therefore, it probably
would be subject to still further decomposition
in the course of which it would liberate large
amount of hydro-carbon gas"
$50 far, so good, but what are the observed
facts2"
1.-THE observed facts are that the shales imme
dately everything the Trenton limestone are BIZ
tumen bearing; that petroleum is found in the
Trenton limestone under this shale, and that gas
is found in the same rock with the oil"
IF natural gas is water gas, why must it
always be found in the same formation, in close
connection with petroleum."
Obscure as chemical analyses of invisible
and lmpapable gases are no chemist will insist
that every instance of natural gas will or should
show the same analytical result If chemistry
were infaliible in the hands of the OPERATOR we
should know much more about the constitution
OF hydrocarbons than we do in the present state
o. Things, and IL Is very unsafe to rely upon the
results OF doubtful analyses instead of accepting
the plain reasoning OF lndisputable facts. What
is palmer than that oil will flow downward?
Well, If the shales above the porous Trenton
limestone were pressed until their oil were
forced out, would it not naturally flow down into
the pores of the underlying Trenton limestonel
do we not find it there2 The Trenton limestone
itself Is largely magnetism, and, in Indiana, at
least so far as its substance has been examined,
shows nothing to account for its oil and gas.
Why need we fly away to superstition, when
as fact that sap rises in a plant, but he cannot
explain just how it does it. So we may know
that natural gas IS closely connected with Pc
troleum, and vet be unable to demonstrate
chemically the exact links of the connection. If
the gas were usually found in rock containing
no petroleum. there would still be little to base
the water theory on; but we should have the oil
bearing shales above the reservoir, and the
knowledge that only substances decomposng
generate gas, to support the better theory. So
much without the aid of chemical analysis.
But what has analysis shown?"
1.-THE analyses of gas from different wells have
varied between rather restricted limits. All Of
them have shown that the gas might have been
generated by the same natural process as the
petroleum, or by the destruction of the petro-
leum itself; but none of them has shown con-
clusvely that the gas could have been made by
the destruction of water. according to the other
theory. As matter of absolute fact, there
is no more evidence to support the
theory that our natural gas has
been formed by the destruction of water than
there is to support the theory that petroleum
has been so formed l take it that he is the best
and safest scientist who holds to his facts, even
at the risk of appearing not very brilliant or
original. There is one advantage in the water
gas theory; it is a very deep one, and it goes SO
far into the ground that it's operations are all
hidden; therefore 1t shields its champions from
the point of practical criticism and permits them
TO revel at will in all sorts of fancifrl assump-
TONS"